Doing more work on my M/C Journal article for the 'fight' issue today. It was accepted for publication with some requests of further changes by the refeerees. One referee wondered about the impact of CD burning and filesharing on CD sales, so I did a bit more research and rediscovered a nice article at The Register which questions the RIAA's claims using its own figures. (That article is in turn based on this one.)
Of course there is always an element of conspiracy theorism in these kinds of reports; of course there is an almost universal dislike of the RIAA which shines through. Still, the data are there on the RIAA site itself, and the math is pretty straightforward. If CD production declines, and CD sales decline (but less strongly), then more people have actually bought from the more limited range of CDs available, and surely then the problem lies not solely with music piracy? Even if the industry reduced production to make up for anticipated losses due to such piracy, this would mean that (in the face of continuing strong demand) they've been spooked by their own rhetoric more than actual threats. Well, at least they'll fit right in with the current U.S. administration.
